\u201cFor those who seek for gold,\u201d says Heraclitus, \u201cdig much earth and find little gold.\u201d But those who are of the truly golden race, in mining for what is allied to them, will find the much in little. For the word will find one to understand it.<\/p>\n
— The Stromata, Book IV. Ch. I<\/p>\n
We call martyrdom perfection, not because the man comes to the end of his life as others, but because he has exhibited the perfect work of love. And the ancients laud the death of those among the Greeks who died in war, not that they advised people to die a violent death, but because he who ends his life in war is released without the dread of dying, severed from the body without experiencing previous suffering or being enfeebled in his soul, as the people that suffer in diseases. For they depart in a state of effeminacy and desiring to live; and therefore they do not yield up the soul pure, but bearing with it their lusts like weights of lead; all but those who have been conspicuous in virtue.<\/p>\n
If the confession to God is martyrdom, each soul which has lived purely in the knowledge of God, which has obeyed the commandments, is a witness both by life and word, in whatever way it may be released from the body,\u2014shedding faith as blood along its whole life till its departure. For instance, the Lord says in the Gospel, \u201cWhosoever shall leave father, or mother, or brethren,\u201d and so forth, \u201cfor the sake of the Gospel and my name,\u201d he is blessed; not indicating simple martyrdom, but the gnostic martyrdom, as of the man who has conducted himself according to the rule of the Gospel, in love to the Lord, so as to leave his worldly kindred, and wealth, and every possession, in order to lead a life free from passion. \u201cMother\u201d figuratively means country and sustenance; \u201cfathers\u201d are the laws of civil polity: which must be contemned thankfully by the high-souled just man; for the sake of being the friend of God, and of obtaining the right hand in the holy place, as the Apostles have done.<\/p>\n
— The Stromata, Book IV. Ch. IV<\/p>\n
Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
\n— James 4:1-4<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cBlessed, then, are the peacemakers,\u201d who have subdued and tamed the law which wars against the disposition of the mind, the menaces of anger, and the baits of lust, and the other passions which war against the reason; who, having lived in the knowledge both of good works and true reason, shall be reinstated in adoption, which is dearer. It follows that the perfect peacemaking is that which keeps unchanged in all circumstances what is peaceful; calls Providence holy and good; and has its being in the knowledge of divine and human affairs, by which it deems the opposites that are in the world to be the fairest harmony of creation. They also are peacemakers, who teach those who war against the stratagems of sin to have recourse to faith and peace. And it is the sum of all virtue, in my opinion, when the Lord teaches us that for love to God we must gnostically despise death. \u201cBlessed are they,\u201d says He, \u201cwho are persecuted for righteousness\u2019 sake, for they shall be called the sons of God;\u201d
\n— The Stromata, Book IV. Ch. VI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Golden Race \u201cFor those who seek for gold,\u201d says Heraclitus, \u201cdig much earth and find little gold.\u201d But those who are of the truly golden race, in mining for what is allied to them, will find the much in little. For the word will find one to understand it. — The Stromata, Book IV. Ch. I Martyrdom of Virtue We call martyrdom perfection, not because the man comes to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[85,101],"class_list":["post-667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clement-of-alexandria","tag-heraclitus","tag-martyrdom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":687,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-stromata-book-vi\/","url_meta":{"origin":667,"position":0},"title":"Clement of Alexandria: The Stromata, Book VI","author":"Nemo","date":"January 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lord is Our Garden, He is Our Knowledge In a meadow the flowers blooming variously, and in a park the plantations of fruit trees, are not separated according to their species from those of other kinds. .. the form of the Miscellanies is promiscuously variegated like a meadow. And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":744,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-stromata-book-vii\/","url_meta":{"origin":667,"position":1},"title":"Clement of Alexandria: The Stromata Book VII","author":"Nemo","date":"January 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Harvest of the Gnostic The Gnostic himself ministers to God, and exhibits to men the scheme of improvement, in the way in which he has been appointed to discipline men for their amendment. For he is alone pious that serves God rightly and unblameably in human affairs. For as that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":674,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-stromata-book-v\/","url_meta":{"origin":667,"position":2},"title":"Clement of Alexandria: The Stromata, Book V","author":"Nemo","date":"January 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Priestly Robe And they say that the robe prophesied the ministry in the flesh, by which He was seen in closer relation to the world. So the high priest, putting off his consecrated robe (the universe, and the creation in the universe, were consecrated by Him assenting that, what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":389,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-christ-the-true-king\/","url_meta":{"origin":667,"position":3},"title":"Clement Of Alexandria: Christ The True King","author":"Nemo","date":"March 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Now among the Greeks, Minos the king of nine years\u2019 reign, and familiar friend of Zeus, is celebrated in song; they having heard how once God conversed with Moses, \u201cas one speaking with his friend.\u201d Moses, then, was a sage, king, legislator. But our Saviour surpasses all human nature. He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":538,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":667,"position":4},"title":"Clement Of Alexandria: Faith","author":"Nemo","date":"March 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Faith and Knowledge In order to believe truly in the Son, we must believe that He is the Son, and that He came, and how, and for what, and respecting His passion; and we must know who is the Son of God. Now neither is knowledge without faith, nor faith\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":578,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-creation\/","url_meta":{"origin":667,"position":5},"title":"Clement Of Alexandria: Creation","author":"Nemo","date":"January 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"God\u2019s resting is not, then, as some conceive, that God ceased from doing. For, being good, if He should ever cease from doing good, then would He cease from being God, which it is sacrilege even to say. 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